Well, Shirley and I just returned from a six-day cruise on
the Carnival Glory out of Norfolk, Va. It was a very eventful cruise to say the
least, from the first night out through our arrival back to Norfolk after our
cruise was cut short by Hurricane Sandy.
Shirley and I headed to Norfolk for our cruise on a Sunday
after church. I guess our drive there was uneventful since I slept 80% of the
way. I don’t know what it is, but as soon as I get in the passenger’s seat and
we pull out of our driveway, my eyes are closed and I’m out. Shirley did wake
me up when we got to a rest stop Emporia, Va. After that I was awake the rest
of the way.
We arrived in the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake,
Va., and checked into our hotel, the Hyatt Place. What a nice hotel! I don’t know
if any of you have ever stayed at a Hyatt Place, but if you get the
opportunity, you need to experience it. Hyatt Place is owned by Hyatt
International and is billed as their “budget” property, but there is nothing
budget about it except the very reasonable per night price. As you walk into
the very spacious and open lobby, you are greeted by extremely helpful staff
who call you by name and give you a quick overview of the property and benefits:
free Wi-Fi in your room, a business area with complementary printing service,
gym, indoor pool, and free breakfast. And I’m not talking about bagels and cold
cereal; I’m telling you, I thought we had already stepped onto the cruise ship.
The food was outstanding and creative.
The room was very spacious and open. Not only did we have an
oversized king bed, but there was a sitting area with a very comfortable couch,
42” HDTV, and ESPN! Well, Shirley probably wasn’t as impressed with the ESPN,
but she did comment on how wonderful the room was. We will stay there next time
we are in the area.
Shirley’s sister Paulette and her fiancé Danny invited us to
their church that evening. After church we went to dinner at Smoky Bones, where
we had a very nice visit with them and his twin brother David, his wife Paula,
and their daughter Sarah. Shirley and I made a quick run to Target afterward,
then back to the Hyatt Place to turn in for the night.
After a quick stop at Best Buy on Monday morning (My
computer’s keyboard was damaged by water, so I needed a wireless keyboard.), we
headed to Portsmouth Parking Authority to get our parking space for the week. It’s
$15 per day to park at the Norfolk Cruise Terminal and only $15 for the entire
week in Portsmouth, so it’s worth a little less convenience. After meeting with
my brother-in-law Gene and his wife Donna, we paid for our parking and caught
the ferry across the Elizabeth River. (The ferry lands about three blocks from
the ship.) You get a great view of the massive 110,000-ton ship as she shines
in the sunlight, and $1.50 each direction just can’t be beat.
When we arrived, the porter took our luggage, and we walked
right into the VIP lounge. After completing the pre-boarding administrative
process, we were escorted onto the Glory—one of the perks of being a longtime
cruiser. We went to our balcony stateroom, dropped our carry-on stuff, and went
to enjoy some great food in the Red Sail buffet. I started with a steak burrito,
and Shirley started with some fish and chips. (I made a couple trips through
the line to try more of the food and wonderful desserts.) Then it was back to
our room to see if our luggage had arrived and off to the emergency muster drill.
I have been through many of these; each time you sail, it’s a requirement. But
each is different according to the ship. Some ships make you bring your
lifejacket, while others make you bring and wear the lifejacket; on the Glory,
we just have to show up and listen to the briefing. These drills only take
about 20 minutes if everyone follows instructions.
After the briefing, it was to our balcony to watch the
mighty Glory shove off from the pier facing the wrong way as the master of the vessel
(as he is now referred, instead of “captain”) maneuvered Glory into the center
of the Elizabeth River, spun her on a dime, and headed down the Elizabeth. We
watched for about an hour, blowing bubbles we’d brought as we passed the
shipyards. By then it was time for dinner, so off we went!
We had a good wait staff; they worked hard. It appeared that
they were serving four or five tables, which is a bit unusual, since each table
in our section seated eight people. The first night they forgot Shirley’s soup,
but after that, things were okay. Sometimes too slow, and sometimes too fast,
we would have our appetizers stacked up waiting for us to eat. I guess if we
would only order one appetizer instead of two or three it wouldn’t have been a
problem, but I had to have my shrimp cocktail each night! (The dish that I really
sought every night was the warm chocolate melting cake. My mouth is watering
just thinking about it now!) There are so many great things about cruise ships,
and one of those is the opportunity to try all the different food. It’s fun to
see my wife try different things, anyway; as for me, I’m not into experimental
food, ha! I normally know what I want and stay with the proven things that
excite my palette. Not to say that I will not try something different, but
there are rules: nothing creamy and no cheese.
Our third night on the cruise, my Carnival business development
manager, Alicia Steuart, treated my wife and me to a meal at the Emerald Room restaurant.
(Even though your meals are paid for in the price of the cruise, in order to
develop a new revenue stream, the cruise lines have created specialty restaurants
which you can dine in for a small “cover charge.” On the Carnival ships, $35
per person gives you this access one night.) Talk about food! I had a rib-eye
steak that was certainly in the top two of any I have ever had, if not the best.
We also were treated to a pre-appetizer of steak tartare and a marble-sized
scoop of horseradish ice cream. It had a very interesting flavor—not bad, but
not quite to the liking of my palate. Shirley thought it was good. She was
served some type of a soup which she said was very “yummy.” This meal was incredible,
and the food was over the top. I would recommend the additional cost to my
clients.
Our “Fun Day at Sea” turned out to be an exciting one; it
wasn’t just another day to spend time playing trivia games and winning “ship on
a stick” trophies. (Though, since we’re on the topic, I will mention that we added
three more to the fleet that we’ve got going at home. It brings the number up
to about 20.) This day the talk of the ship wasn’t even Sandy, who was out
there but not yet close enough to affect our travel plans. The buzz about the
ship was that a passenger was airlifted off in the wee hours of the morning by
the brave men and women of the US Coast Guard. Just after midnight, I was
awakened by the sound of a helicopter; after spending four years in the Navy
flying around in them, I know that sound. I immediately went to our balcony,
opened the door, and stood just below eyelevel of the aircraft hovering just
above our balcony. I tried to get up to the top deck, but ship security had
everything blocked off for safety. The helicopter stayed there for about 30
minutes before they moved over the deck and took off the patient and a family
member. Rumor going around the ship was that a lady had had a heart attack.
Because of this incident, the ship had to turn around and
head back toward Norfolk to meet the helicopter, and this delayed our arrival
into Nassau by a couple of hours. But that’s okay; first priority is the safety
of everyone on the ship. When Matt, the cruise director, came on the ship-wide public
address system, not only did he announce that we would be two hours late
arriving in Nassau, but he also updated us on Sandy. Since the storm had grown,
we would only be able to stay in Nassau until 8:00 PM (we were scheduled to be
there until 10:00 PM the next night), and we would also not be able to go to Freeport,
Bahamas. Instead we would have another Fun Day at Sea and dock in Port
Canaveral for the day.
Shirley and I got off the ship about 2:00 PM in Nassau and
made our way to the internet café we’ve been to several times so that we could
email our family about the change in our itinerary and say that we could call
them from Port Canaveral. After that, we strolled around in the city for a
couple of hours, went into a couple of shops, bought a few items, took some
pictures, and went back to the ship. I noticed that the wind was picking up and
the sunny skies were turning partly cloudy. We boarded our ship, put our
treasures in our stateroom, and went to find something to eat. We didn’t have
to look very long. Just up one flight of stairs, we found the Red Sail Buffet,
and our search was over. LOL!
As we left Nassau, the rain started and basically would not
stop for the next three days. When it wasn’t raining, it was grey skies and 40
mph winds across the deck with seas 12–15 feet making our ride quite a ride. For
me personally, the rocking of the ship makes me want to take naps, and we did. I
would find myself taking 2–3 hour naps; I guess I really needed to catch up on
my sleep. We continued to play trivia and eat. I must have not eaten as much as
I thought, or maybe Shirley’s insistence that we take the stairs up and down
had a positive result, because when we got back home and I weighed myself at
the gym, I had LOST 2 lbs!
Despite any hiccups our voyage had, overall it was a very
nice cruise. (Of course any cruise is a nice cruise as long as the boat doesn’t
sink, right?) I’m already looking forward to the next one!
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